Cougar Movement Modeling

Duration

July 2011 - June 2012

Narrative

Problem statement:

Western carnivore species navigate a complex matrix of land types as they undergo their life history. In Colorado, several species are tracked with a variety of telemetry devices to understand vital rates and demographics, but relatively little was known the movement of these carnivores.

So What? Why this research matters:

The ability to formally make inferences about large-scale spatial and temporal movement of wild carnivores in Colorado helps us understand the natural history of the species and rigorously quantifies their space use and behavior.

Collaboration/Partners:

This project is in collaboration with scientists at the Colorado Parks and Wildlife .

Research That Informs Decisions:

Formal statistical models that account for the various sources of uncertainty in telemetry data help us make dependable inference about movement of large carnivores in Colorado that can help influence management decisions about landscape connectivity, development, and land use.